Are You Participating in Type 1 Diabetes Research?

Living fully with diabetes is challenging and I am always inspired by those who let their diabetes inform their life and work. Annie Shultz is one of those people. She has type 1diabetes and is a keen participant in research. Annie also works professionally in the diabetes world (Project Manager, Outreach & recruitment with TrialNet Hub).

In the video watch Annie taking part in artificial pancreas research. As a parent of a teen with type 1, to see her eating and exercising without adjusting her insulin is nothing short of miraculous. Watching Annie’s video put a face on research for me and increased my optimism about the future for my son Alexander and anyone else living with type 1. It often feels like a cure is to far away, but this video altered my thinking.

Annie was diagnosed with type 1 as a young adult. Although she had grown up with a father who was type 1, it still felt a bit foreign to be living with diabetes herself and like many people, she was deathly afraid of needles.

As a parent, a type 1 diagnosis is devastating no matter the age of your child. For Annie’s mother the blow was extra difficult because she had witnessed Annie’s father experience horrible side effects from living with type 1. Her motherly concern and her vast experience with type 1 motivated her to secure appointments with several endocrinologists and she enrolled Annie in a class soon where she could learn tips and tricks for managing her diabetes. “If my mom hadn’t done that, I would never had done it on my own,” says Annie.

What did you feel after watching Annie’s video? It inspired me to find more ways to engage in diabetes research. As a family we already participate in TrialNet.

Annie reminds us that each person’s participation in research helps scientists learn and move the process forward. How about you, are you or your family participating in research? If you don’t participate, what is stopping you?